First, I want to thank Joshua Crowther for this forum. It’s greatly appreciated.

Now, for your Daily Dose!

Of course, if you’re like me, you’ve been watching the news of the comic book movies. For those of you who are new to me and my personality, let me say that, when it comes to Marvel Studios movies, I try to go in clean: I try not to read anything online about the films, I try not to see any trailers, I try not to see any pictures. I try to remain as clean as possible.

The same cannot be said for DC movies, though. While I don’t obsess over details the way some do, I do have thoughts about what they’re doing with their properties. And, like any good armchair quarterback, my thoughts are very well thought out, without having the ability to make a real dent in what they’re doing.

I’m going to say it right now: I’m not a fan of the Suicide Squad movie. Basically, I’m unhappy with two aspects of it: one where we have a character who shouldn’t be there because they’re not really a team player, and one where the actor chosen could literally take over the film.

Well, Hardy is no longer part of the film. I have no thoughts on this. I also have no thoughts on Margot Robbie/Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney/Boomerang, or Cara Delevingne/Enchantress. I don’t care, to be honest. I’m not the biggest DC guy around.

So, by process of elimination, I have problems with two things: Jared Leto/Joker, and Will Smith/Deadshot.

I don’t care about Jared Leto. I care about the Joker.

Historically, Joker is not a team player. Too unpredictable. There’s no real way to control him, because just when you think you do, he’s going to find a way to turn the tables on you—and you’ll be more than sorry.

And while we all understand that this movie has no connection at all to the Dark Knight trilogy of Christopher Nolen, there’s still going to be comparisons of Leto’s performance to Ledger’s. I don’t care about that. What I care about are the comparisons of the two Jokers. That’s going to be fair. The Dark Knight Joker is shown to be intelligent, savvy, and ruthless. This new incarnation? Granted, the movie hasn’t come out yet, but still, I don’t believe that this new incarnation will work in a “team” setting. The Joker basically hasn’t been part of a “team” since the Adam West Batman incarnation—and for good reason. He doesn’t play well with others.

And finally, there’s Will Smith. Forget the fact that Deadshot is supposed to be a white guy. If they’re going to cover him from head to toe, then it won’t really matter. For the most part, as an actor, Will Smith is a personality that sucks the air out of the room. When the movie isn’t about him, then it doesn’t do well. And I’m not talking about his more dramatic roles. After Earth, anyone? He wanted to do a movie with his son, which is commendable, but still, the movie didn’t do well. Why? Basically, because it wasn’t about him.

The studio may be trying to bank on the star power of Smith, and that’s fine. However, if he really wanted to do another superhero movie, Smith would have been better off on a Hancock sequel. It would be one of those rare times in cinematic history where a sequel would be as good or better than its predecessor.

Am I predicting a flop with the Suicide Squad? Not at all. Some of the people involved have acting chops. I personally can’t think of Jared Leto without thinking about the thoroughly depressing Requiem For A Dream. I’m just not too sure that this is going to be a franchise that makes sense within the world that Warner Bros. is trying to create around the DCU. Not with this cast and these characters.